OUTSIDE BAKHMUT, Ukraine — There had been a time when Oleg was excited to get behind the wheel of the tank. A sardonic 25-year-old, he's been serving as a driver around the front lines of the war in eastern Ukraine since almost the beginning of Russia's invasion last year.
But the novelty is long gone. The tank, a T-64 made in 1983, is older than he is — a relic of Ukraine's Soviet past. Its engine needs at least 20 minutes to warm up from a cold start, and for every day of hard combat, it needs a day of maintenance. Its ancient optics mean the crew can't fight at night.
Worst of all, it's just plain slow.
